The New World and Tragedy of Tucker Foley
by Monica Moss
Summary: Tucker's life is centered a game. He is more concerned with Srojus the Archer's quest than with anything else in his life. His mother worries about him, but it doesn't look like anyone will take any action to try to bring him back to the real world.


This oneshot is based off a story I wrote for Creative Writing class a few years ago. It seemed like the idea would make a good Tucker centered story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tucker, his parents, or Casper High, because they are from Danny Phantom. But Tower of Traitors, and all its characters are mine.

* * *

The New World and Tragedy for Tucker Foley

Tucker's eyes were stinging from the last five hours he had spent staring at the monitor. His pointer finger desperately pressed down on the left arrow key.

"Move already," he whispered. "Move before you get killed! Move, move . . . NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOO!"

Tucker watched in helplessness as his pixelized character got stabbed in the chest with Amaraz's sword and fell to the digital floor.

"Why must I go wrong now? I've worked so hard to get to the seventeenth level! _WHY?_"

He pulled himself together to go back to the main menu and selected the point where he had last saved.

"Tucker!" a feminine voice called form the kitchen. "It's time for dinner!"

"No, no!" he shouted. "I'm almost to the part where Srojus destroy the evil knight and his pet dragon!"

"Eat now, or go to bed hungry tonight!"

Tucker ignored his mom and hit the arrow keys to avoid the fire coming rapidly at Srojus, the red archer he had selected for himself. He couldn't believe it was only six months ago when he had first played it.

* * *

_Flashback_

"_Dude! What did you find?" he'd asked Danny._

"_I found this game," Danny had said. He held up a stack of discs labeled _Towers of Traitors.

"Towers of Traitors_? I've heard of that game!" Tucker said. "It made record sales back when it first came out. Everyone was excited about the number of levels, and about the mini games they could buy to go with it. Hey Danny, do you think my dad will notice if we sneak off to play one of the mini games?"_

"_Not likely, he's too wrapped up in his memories and his old stuff. Let's go. Playing that sounds like a lot more fun than staying down here and cleaning out your basement with your dad," Danny replied, grinning._

_He and Danny had run upstairs to play the game. When they first started the game up, they were given a choice of an axeman, a mace man, or an archer_ _in any color to be their character._

_Tucker had chosen first, selecting a red archer. The computer named his archer 'Srojus'._

_Then Danny had chosen,_ _preferring a blue mace man for himself._ _This character the computer called, 'Bikabod.'_

_They'd spent the rest of the day playing the mini game. They were rescuing the princess Kiothella from her rebel handmaid, Achissie._

_Just after they had rescued Kiothella, Danny left_ _for home He'd said that the game had been fun, but he'd had enough._ _Tucker, on the other hand, couldn't resist putting the real game in the computer and playing level one. . ._ _._

* * *

While his family gathered around the table to enjoy some tasty pork chops for dinner, Tucker sat at the computer. He was advancing his archer through level seventeen.

Tucker's mom shook her head. "I swear, he's addicted to that thing," she said.

"It's just a phase, he'll grow out of it," said his dad.

"I'm worried about him. Honey, we're having pork chops, and he's playing that game instead of eating with us. You know he'd usually never pass up a chance to eat meat!"

"Honey . . . "

"His grades are dropping lower than ever. If this game habit continues into next year . . . "

"Honey . . . "

"He'll be a junior next year! You know that the junior year is the first year post high school schools look at when selecting from prospective students!"

"Honey . . . "

"What if he doesn't even go to school next year? He's almost sixteen! What if he drops out of school just to play that game?"

"Honey . . . "

"We don't see him anywhere but on that computer anymore! He gets up earlier than we do just to play it, and the first thing he does when he gets home from school is he gets on the computer. Something has got to be done!"

"He's still a kid," Tucker's dad pointed out. "Trust me. He'll grow out of his obsession with that game. I went through that phase when we were in high school, remember? I was the biggest video game junkie, and the biggest techno-geek in Casper High while we were there!"

"Are you sure he'll grow out of it?"

"Positive! As soon as he remembers that there's more to life than video games, he'll get off that computer!"

"Well, I guess we could see if time fixes this. But honey, if we can't get him away from it once in a while, even just long enough to eat every so often, sleep, and go to school, then I'll have to take some action."

Tucker's family quickly finished their meal. The sound of running water and dish against dish could be heard as they cleaned up, not that Tucker cared. Srojus had just slain the dark knight, Amaraz. He had started fighting a life-or-death battle with the dragon. If he could just slay that vile creature, he could move onto the next level.

Tucker's eyelids drooped and his fingers started dragging, leaving Srojus to be hit with a fatal ball of fire. He was so tired that he didn't even make an audible response then, he just went to the menu and selected the last point at which the game had been saved.

"Tucker! GO TO BED!" his mother shouted.

He groaned. "But Mom, I haven't even finished this level yet," he whined, once again approaching the room where Amaraz was waiting.

"GO TO BED! NOW!"

Srojus pushed the door open, and Amaraz's dragon made the first move.

"TUCKER! LISTEN TO ME! IF YOU DON'T GO TO BED NOW, I'LL UNPLUG THE COMPUTER AND THROW IT AWAY!"

He hit the pause button on the keyboard. "All right, I'm going!" he snapped. "Good night!"

The boy slunk up to his bed and sat there with the lights off. It was only an hour or two's wait before his parents were sound asleep. It was well worth sneaking down to give Srojus another shot at Amaraz.

This was the perfect example of Tucker's days and nights for the last couple months. He'd come home from school and head straight for the computer. He'd play for several hours, skip dinner, and be sent to bed. Then he would stay up until he could sneak down and play some more, and play until morning.

He would have very little time to eat breakfast on his way to school. Throughout the day, he would not concentrate on school, girls, or anything besides _Towers of Traitors._

His life outside the game was ruined. His friends were mad at him for avoiding them. He fell asleep in school, and could never get his assignments in because he was so busy playing. But none of this mattered to him anymore.

After all, Tucker could no longer think of any quest more inviting than helping Srojus to fight the traitors within King Wilxau's castle walls. He was making progress on that quest, so he wasn't about to give it up. He _had_ gotten to level seventeen, _of one hundred_.


End file.
